--- description: A new retrospective of the work of Robert Adams—the photographer famous for documenting the people and environment of the American West—will make its own westward journey when it comes to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 11. title: Robert Adams’ Retrospective Goes West image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e28d8666676e5b/69879c7935ba6f71b2c08bca/ex-2451-210.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Robert Adams' Retrospective Goes West  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 9, 2012 9:00 AM CUT  Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1992 Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1992© Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 9, 2012 9:00 AM CUT Retrospective exhibits, while an enviable chance to create a cohesive story from a lifetime’s worth of work, can be a curator’s nightmare: pieces have to be gathered from all over the world, selected at a distance, organized before they even get to the gallery. Not so the new retrospective of the work of Robert Adams, the photographer famous for documenting the people and landscapes of the American West—both natural and manmade—who is approaching his 75th birthday this May. The show, which opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on March 11, was put together at the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) from the master set of thousands of prints donated to the gallery by the photographer in 2004. “We had time to work with originals and precisely strike a tone that we thought the overall exhibition should have,” says Joshua Chuang of the YUAG, who worked with Adams to curate the images that the show comprises. Adams had preserved the best prints of his work throughout his career and he was instrumental in sculpting the retrospective, which will travel for two years following its time at LACMA. “It’s a very special artist indeed who is the best editor of his own work,” says Chuang. “Adams is really exceptional in that way.” The resulting show is not intended to be merely a collection of over 300 pictures that happen to be the work of one artist, but rather a single, epic piece of work. It includes each of his major projects, dating back to 1964, and dozens of photo books that he has produced. LACMA’s installation also includes a multimedia reading room and a variety of related programs, from a botany-themed tour to talks with local artists who have been inspired by Adams’ work. Chuang says that, taken together, the pictures in the show demonstrate how, even though many people think that a camera captures a literal version of the world, the art of photography is one of fiction. “The way that fiction functions is very tricky because it’s using facts to tell a fiction, and it has the appearance of fact,” he says. Robert Adams’ particular devotion to those facts, especially when it comes to capturing the precise look of light that may be flat or boring or dim, was so extreme that the photographer, viewing prints of a photograph taken decades before, was able to describe to curators the exact feeling of standing in a particular spot thirty years ago, and how that feeling ought to come across in the image. Chuang says that such fastidiousness about light means that Robert Adams’ work probably captures the West more accurately than that of the other chronicler of that region, Ansel Adams. But that faithfulness doesn’t mean a lack of artistry. Robert Adams’ skill at capturing nondescript light conjures up an experience—whether it’s in a Target store or the desert—with unexpected intricacy. “He makes smog in California look ethereal and beautiful,” says Chuang. And because of his relationship with that state, the photographer’s series of Los Angeles photographs will be highlighted in the show’s LACMA incarnation, in order to allow visitors to compare the environment of their daily lives with the one captured on film, says Edward Robinson, LACMA curator. “It will be great for people to see this extraordinary photographer’s understanding and exploration of the area, to see how changes in the built environment have been reflected in the landscape,” says Robinson, “and what even the trees can suggest about the use of the land over time.” Robert Adams: The Place We Live _will be on view at LACMA from March 11 through June 3\. Find out more about the exhibit_ [_here_](http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/robert-adams-place-we-live "undefined")_, or visit the YUAG companion site_ [_here_](http://artgallery.yale.edu/adams/landing.php "undefined")_._  Ranch Northeast of Keota Colorado, 1969 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Interstate 25, Eden, Colorado, 1968, printed 2006 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Frame for a Tract House, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1969 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1968 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1969 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  In a New Subdivision, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1969 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Quarried Mesa Top, Pueblo County, Colorado, 1978 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Northeast from Flagstaff Mountain Boulder County, Colorado, 1975 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Edge of San Timoteo Canyon, looking towards Los Angeles, Redlands, California, 1978 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Longmont, Colorado, 1979 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Santa Ana Wash, Redlands, California, 1983, printed 1991 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Abandoned windbreak, West of Fontana, California, 1982, printed 1996 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  New Development on a former citrus-growing estate, Highland, California, 1983 printed 1998 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Untitled, from the series "Along Some Rivers," 1985-87 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Sitka spruce, Cape Blanco State Park, Curry County, Oregon, 1999-2003 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Kerstin, Next to an Old-Growth Stump, Coos County, Oregon, 1999-2003 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Clatsop Beach, Oregon, circa 2003, printed 2006 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York  Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1992 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3786935/robert-adams-retrospective-goes-west/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3786935/robert-adams-retrospective-goes-west/"},"headline":"Robert Adams' Retrospective Goes West","datePublished":"2012-03-09T09:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:41:09.812Z","description":"A new retrospective of the work of Robert Adams—the photographer famous for documenting the people and environment of the American West—will make its own westward journey when it comes to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 11.","url":"https://time.com/3786935/robert-adams-retrospective-goes-west/","keywords":["LightBox","California","los angeles","Art","photography","Yale","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e28d8666676e5b/69879c7935ba6f71b2c08bca/ex-2451-210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e28d8666676e5b/69879c7935ba6f71b2c08bca/ex-2451-210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robert Adams","caption":"Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1992","creditText":"© Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3786935/robert-adams-retrospective-goes-west/","name":"Robert Adams' Retrospective Goes West"}}]}] ```